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Amazon.co.uk Review
Though Inland Empire's three hours of befuddling abstraction could try the patience of the most devoted David Lynch fan, its aim to reinvigorate the Lynch-ian symbolic order is ambitious, not to mention visually arresting. The director's archetypes recognizable from previous movies once again construct the film's inherent logic, but with a new twist. Sets vibrate between the contemporary and a 1950s alternate universe crammed with dim lamps, long hallways, mysterious doors, sparsely furnished rooms and, this time, a vortex/apartment/sitcom set where rabbit-masked humans dwell, and a Polish town where women are abused and killed. Instead of speaking backwards, mystic soothsayers and criminals speak Polish. Filmed on video, the film's look has the sinister, frightening feel of a Mark Savage film or a bootlegged snuff movie. Constant close-ups, both in and out of focus, make Inland Empire feel as if a stalker covertly filmed it.
A straightforward, hokey plot unravels during the first third of Inland Empire to ground the viewer before a dive off the deep end. Actor Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) is cast as Susan Blue, an adulterous white trash Southerner, in a film that mimics too closely her actual life with an overbearingly jealous and dangerous husband. When Nikki and co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) learn that the cursed film project was earlier abandoned when its stars were murdered, the pair lose their grasp of reality. Nikki suffers a schizophrenic identity switch to Sue that lasts until nearly the film's end. Suspense builds as Nikki's alter ego sleuths her way through surreal situations to discover her killer, culminating in Sue's gnarly death on set. Sue's actions drag on because any sign of a narrative thread disappears due to idiosyncratic editing. Non-sensical scenes still captivate, however, such as when Sue stumbles onto the soundstage where she finds Nikki (herself) rehearsing for Sue's part. In this meta-film about identity slippage, Dern's multiple characters remind one of how a victim can become the hunter in their fight for survival. Lynch's portrayal of Nikki/Sue's increasing paranoia is, in its own confusion, utterly realistic. Laura Dern has created her own Lady Macbeth, undone by her guilt over infidelity. Even though Inland Empire is too long and too random, Laura Dern's performance coupled with Lynch's video experiments make it magical. --Trinie Dalton
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 92 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Before I even start let's get one thing straight; this is not a film for sitting down and unwinding. You're not going to be constantly gripped, glued to the screen or in many respects entertained. I have to admit I found this film hard work and in may respects understand reviewers that were frustrated by this film or just didn't get it.
However, if you want to see a film for grown-ups (a rare thing I feel, as even most 18 certificate films treat me like I have a mental age of 3!) that will take some effort in viewing but stay with you for days and weeks (I saw it two weeks ago and can't get it out of my head) then this film is for you. It is as close to a work of art of any piece of cinema I've seen and would look completely at home played on loop in the Tate Modern.
I have no idea what it is about, and I'm someone who will happily explain the plot to Mullholland Drive (it makes that film look like Driving Miss Daisy) but there are scenes in it that are so powerful and memorable I feel that they're tattooed to the inside of my eyelids. The acting is incredible, the use of Digital Video by Lynch is masterful, the plot is inexplicable, the soundtrack is wonderful and I loved it (once it had permeated into my brain after about 3 days).
If your favourite film is "Love Actually" for heavens sake stay away! If you want to see what the most adventurous filmmaker in America is doing with modern technology and fancy a challenge, get this now!
However, if you want to see a film for grown-ups (a rare thing I feel, as even most 18 certificate films treat me like I have a mental age of 3!) that will take some effort in viewing but stay with you for days and weeks (I saw it two weeks ago and can't get it out of my head) then this film is for you. It is as close to a work of art of any piece of cinema I've seen and would look completely at home played on loop in the Tate Modern.
I have no idea what it is about, and I'm someone who will happily explain the plot to Mullholland Drive (it makes that film look like Driving Miss Daisy) but there are scenes in it that are so powerful and memorable I feel that they're tattooed to the inside of my eyelids. The acting is incredible, the use of Digital Video by Lynch is masterful, the plot is inexplicable, the soundtrack is wonderful and I loved it (once it had permeated into my brain after about 3 days).
If your favourite film is "Love Actually" for heavens sake stay away! If you want to see what the most adventurous filmmaker in America is doing with modern technology and fancy a challenge, get this now!
58 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I feel I should start off by saying that, despite what prejudices some people may have about fans of Lynch's films, I'm not one to simply proclaim anything he puts out as the product of genius. Despite the critical acclaim, I felt Mulholland Drive and especially Lost Highway were rather un-formed, self-indulgent films that suggested Lynch had lost the spark that made his earlier work so fascinating. After watching (enduring?) Inland Empire, I'm delighted to say I was totally in the wrong.
There seems little point in trying to outline the plot seeing as (a) plenty of other reviewers have done and will do and (b) there isn't one.
Suffice to say, after the relatively straightforward first hour, Inland Empire's undercurrent drags the viewer deep into a 2 hour nightmare involving the Polish underworld, murder, L.A. prostitutes and people in 6-foot rabbit costumes. Themes and variations thereof are repeated and re-visited throughout the film with different people, in different places and/ or at seperate times. Occasionally, Lynch teases the viewer by providing brief glimpses or snippets of information that may give us a clue as to what might be going on. But, just as quickly, they're snatched away again.
It seem pointless even to mention that this film is likely to be very limited in its appeal and the 3 hour length only adds to its apparent impenetrability. But, for those able to keep an open-mind and just delight in being confounded for the duration of the feature, I believe there's no end to the number of times you could re-visit and find new aspects to it. I genuinally felt dis-orientated for several minutes after leaving the film.
I don't pretend to fully understand the meaning of the film (if there even is one), but Inland Empire has stuck in my mind since I first saw it more than 2 months ago. I can't give a film higher praise than that.
There seems little point in trying to outline the plot seeing as (a) plenty of other reviewers have done and will do and (b) there isn't one.
Suffice to say, after the relatively straightforward first hour, Inland Empire's undercurrent drags the viewer deep into a 2 hour nightmare involving the Polish underworld, murder, L.A. prostitutes and people in 6-foot rabbit costumes. Themes and variations thereof are repeated and re-visited throughout the film with different people, in different places and/ or at seperate times. Occasionally, Lynch teases the viewer by providing brief glimpses or snippets of information that may give us a clue as to what might be going on. But, just as quickly, they're snatched away again.
It seem pointless even to mention that this film is likely to be very limited in its appeal and the 3 hour length only adds to its apparent impenetrability. But, for those able to keep an open-mind and just delight in being confounded for the duration of the feature, I believe there's no end to the number of times you could re-visit and find new aspects to it. I genuinally felt dis-orientated for several minutes after leaving the film.
I don't pretend to fully understand the meaning of the film (if there even is one), but Inland Empire has stuck in my mind since I first saw it more than 2 months ago. I can't give a film higher praise than that.
32 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Shot on digital video, rather than film, David Lynch's "INLAND EMPIRE" takes him out of the mainstream, if you can call "Mulholland Drive" and "Blue Velvet" mainstream, into the realm of pure Independent film making: producing films with little money and without any outside interference.
At the beginning of this film Laura Dern plays Nikki Grace, a diva-like actress frantically waiting for word from the producers of a film that she would like to do. This part of this film is very straightforward but Lynch straightforward which means that 1+1 does not always equal 2. This is where Nikki/Laura begins. By the end of the film she/they are unhappy, bored, frantic, living in a one-story, California Ranch-style house in what looks to be the Inland Empire (Riverside, Corona): the fastest growing section of Southern California. Does this have any significance as far as Lynch is concerned or is his Inland Empire one of the mind? I don't really know for sure and in Lynch's world this ambiguity makes the proceedings troubling, puzzling and fascinating all at the same time. Rational ambivalence is called for when dealing (as in viewing and describing) with Lynch's films except maybe for the almost straightforward and appropriately named, "Straight Story."
In regards to Laura Dern: as Jeanne Moreau was for Godard, as Deneuve was for Bunuel and Truffaut, as Audran was for Bunuel and Chabrol, Dern is Lynch's muse: the actress he chooses to personify his dreams and nightmares. Dern is neither a plush toy nor a sexpot-type of actress. She is tall, imposing yet warm, emotionally available, argumentative, brittle, ready and willing to give any man or woman a run for their money in life as well as in bed. Look to Lynch's recurring choice of Dern for hints as to what is going on his volatile mind and his brilliant films.
There are moments of great beauty and clarity here for Lynch is nothing if not a superior artist capable of making his striking images, film moments and whole scenes effective and thoughtful as well as funny and scary as all hell.
"I Don't Get IT"......" You Got IT!" (as quoted from" Premiere" which also states that Lynch himself has explained "INLAND EMPIRE" as making "perfect sense.") is the mantra of Lynchists (or Lynchpins) and in regards to "INLAND EMPIRE" this phrase seems wholly appropriate.
At the beginning of this film Laura Dern plays Nikki Grace, a diva-like actress frantically waiting for word from the producers of a film that she would like to do. This part of this film is very straightforward but Lynch straightforward which means that 1+1 does not always equal 2. This is where Nikki/Laura begins. By the end of the film she/they are unhappy, bored, frantic, living in a one-story, California Ranch-style house in what looks to be the Inland Empire (Riverside, Corona): the fastest growing section of Southern California. Does this have any significance as far as Lynch is concerned or is his Inland Empire one of the mind? I don't really know for sure and in Lynch's world this ambiguity makes the proceedings troubling, puzzling and fascinating all at the same time. Rational ambivalence is called for when dealing (as in viewing and describing) with Lynch's films except maybe for the almost straightforward and appropriately named, "Straight Story."
In regards to Laura Dern: as Jeanne Moreau was for Godard, as Deneuve was for Bunuel and Truffaut, as Audran was for Bunuel and Chabrol, Dern is Lynch's muse: the actress he chooses to personify his dreams and nightmares. Dern is neither a plush toy nor a sexpot-type of actress. She is tall, imposing yet warm, emotionally available, argumentative, brittle, ready and willing to give any man or woman a run for their money in life as well as in bed. Look to Lynch's recurring choice of Dern for hints as to what is going on his volatile mind and his brilliant films.
There are moments of great beauty and clarity here for Lynch is nothing if not a superior artist capable of making his striking images, film moments and whole scenes effective and thoughtful as well as funny and scary as all hell.
"I Don't Get IT"......" You Got IT!" (as quoted from" Premiere" which also states that Lynch himself has explained "INLAND EMPIRE" as making "perfect sense.") is the mantra of Lynchists (or Lynchpins) and in regards to "INLAND EMPIRE" this phrase seems wholly appropriate.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A well made edition for Lynch's 2001 Odyssey
An aspiring actrees finds herself trapped in the plot of a cursed Polish movie's remake she's starring in. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lemony82
Ever woken up in a nightmare? Inland Empire will take you there...
Possibly the craziest movie that Lynch has produced, the film roughly focuses on a cursed movie and then goes off into strange and complicated tangents including human sized... Read more
Published 13 months ago by D. M. West
Wow
It's unconventional, weird, slow at times, complex, and difficult to unravel. It's also facinating, and has some important observations to make. It's a piece of art. Read more
Published 17 months ago by P. J. Beaver
so much poetry
I wanted to write a few sentences about this film... It took me 3 shots to get through the movie. Not because it was boring. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Thomas Hjorthaab
The story so far........
There are some people in a large room who are talking about something. Then I pressed 'stop.'
I do love Lynch - but not this much!
I do love Lynch - but not this much!
Published 20 months ago by Bloodnock
it sounds hard, but watch it more than once.
this may seem like a daunting, very daunting suggestion, but after a repeated viewing, and understanding the film mulholland drive, the narrative seeps out at you. Read more
Published on 25 May 2010 by M. Sharman
Never again!
I actually don't know I managed to get through this film to the end, it was so long but worse it was so nonsensical! Read more
Published on 22 May 2010 by Jacksragingbileduct
Lynch loses the plot
INLAND EMPIRE is almost impossible to rate objectively and say if it's a good, bad or average, because, upon first viewing the majority of viewers will have little idea what the... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2010 by M. Evans
Interesting but seemingly flawed .
I loved Mulholland Drive and was really looking forward to this film , but was disappointed that ,in my opinion , it lacks the humour and verve of Mulholland Drive , and is... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by John
The (Inland) Emperor's New Clothes
After a visit from a strange woman, an apparent fortune teller, a Hollywood actress gets a part in a new film. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2009 by Mr. David P. Armstrong
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